Makeshift
by Artificial Lullaby
Summary: Unable to sleep one night, Toph and Zuko have a conversation by the edge of the fountain. Spoilers for Western Air Temple. No pairings, just family stuff.


The tingling sensation that still danced across the soles of her feet kept her awake that night, much as it had the night before. Unlike everyone else, she didn't blame Zuko for burning her. Maybe if she'd been a little bit more wary and focused she would have realised that he was asleep, and her mother had always told her that waking a sleeping dragon would get you burned.

It wasn't long before Toph realised she wasn't actually going to get any sleep so, with a brief thud of her fist on the floor she deconstructed her earth tent and got to her feet slowly, wincing as she did so. She balanced her weight on the outer parts of her feet, silently cursing her own stubbornness as she did so. She could hardly feel a thing, just the constant movement of the water in the fountain in the centre of the rooms, and Appa, but nothing beyond that. She ground her teeth in annoyance and began to hobble over towards the fountain.

She'd taken about three steps when an annoyingly sharp rock got caught under the tender new skin of her right foot, and she fell forwards to the floor with a brief cry of pain and surprise. Her hands skidded across the ground and burning pains shot up her arms.

"Great," she mumbled as she ran a finger across the heel of her palm, wincing ever so slightly when she caught one in a fresh cut. "First my feet, now my hands. I'm such an idiot."

"Do you need a hand?" It was Zuko, and he sounded like he was standing above her. For a moment, she thought of shaking her head but realised exactly her predicament – no walking and now, no crawling. She nodded and let Zuko take her hands gently and help her up into a sitting position.

"Why aren't you sleeping, Sparky? It's late," she asked as she gently began to brush the tiny pieces of stone from her hands.

"I could ask you the same thing, but I think I know why you're awake." Could she hear guilt in his voice? "I'm not used to sleeping on such hard surfaces." She felt a few thin, warm fingers skim across the heels of her palms and she tried as hard as she could not to let the whimper that rose in her throat escape, but it got the better of her.

"You should go wash these out. I'll take you over," he said.

"No way," she said, placing the tips of her fingers on the floor as she tried to get to her feet. She was most of the way up when yet another stone dug into her foot and she began to fall to one side. The same warm fingers wrapped around her shoulders, lifting her clear of the floor for a moment and setting her right once again.

"Maybe you could give me a hand then," she said softly.

With a little bit of effort on both parts, and a lot of describing exactly what he was trying to do on Zuko's, Toph was settled comfortably on Zuko's back, her arms comfortably settled around his shoulders.

"Giddy up, Sparkles," Toph said happily as Zuko began to wander across the many sleeping forms that littered the floor of the temple. "Can I ask you something?"

Zuko nodded, before he realised who he was nodding at. "Of course."

"What's it like, growing up with a sister?"

Zuko snorted. Azula wasn't really that much of a sister, and he told Toph that.

"Yeah, but still, you grew up with someone who was about your age, who you were related to, and you probably had other kids who were about your age around at the time. I grew up alone. My parents thought I was too weak and frail to play with other kids."

Once again, Zuko snorted. "I can't really imagine that, Toph."

Toph nodded. "It's true. And all of the servants at our estate treat me like I'm some little flower who'll get squashed if they're not careful."

They reached the fountain and Zuko lowered Toph down onto the edge, and she swivelled round so as her feet were in the water. She gave a brif sigh of relief before she turned her attention back to her hands.

"Let me help you with them," Zuko said, pulling the tie from around his waist and wetting it in the water. He dabbed the broken skin of her hands gently, washing away the blood and dirt that had dried on her hands, staining the orange fabric a deep red until he dipped it back in the water.

"You grew up with servants? What your family name?"

"Bei Fong," she said, hissing softly as he caught a stone in a shallow cut.

Zuko apologized briefly. " From Gaoling? Wow. Didn't know they had a daughter."

Toph shrugged, a mannerism she'd never fully understood. Maybe you had to be able to see it to understand it. "Most people don't. Just the people who work in our household and a few other people. My parents aren't proud of having a blind daughter, and they say that they're just trying to protect me. I know that they're just protecting themselves."

Zuko looked up at Toph, whose face was downcast, sadness marring her young face.

"You know," Zuko said as he wrung out the belt. "We're not all that different, you know."

Toph didn't look up, but her eyebrows rose a fraction. "We're not?" Zuko shook his head.

"My father was ashamed of having me as a child, so he sent me on a wild goose chase that kept me away from home for a few years. He'd rather I was on the other side of the world than with him, bringing him shame. I got my scar from him, you know."

"What scar?" she asked. The tingling in her feet had died down, and the stinging in her hands was lessening now that there were no little stones in the small wounds to aggravate them. She felt his warm hand take hers and a moment later, tough, ridged flesh met her fingertips, flesh that was warmer than his hands by a large margin.

"What happened?" she asked as she followed the outline of the scar, before dropping her hand back to her lap.

"My first war meeting, when I was thirteen. I disagreed with one of the generals, and he challenged me to an Agni Kai, a firebending duel. I agreed, but when I arrived there, it wasn't the general that I was facing, but my father." For a moment he hesitated, and looked down at Toph. Her face was entirely neutral. "And when I refused to fight him, he burned my eye and banished me."

After a moment where neither of them said anything, Toph shuffled over and rested her head on Zuko's upper arm. "I'm sorry," she said softly.

"I don't know why I just told you that," he said, shaking his head slightly. Was he going soft, now that he was one of the 'good guys'? "I've never really told that to anyone before."

Toph yawned. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about your girly, emotional moment. Don't worry."

Zuko smiled a little. "Do you want me to take you back?"

Shaking her head, Toph answered, "The water's keeping my feet from hurting, so I'd like to stay here. If you don't mind of course."

Zuko shrugged. "I guess I have no choice."

"You make a great pillow, Sparky."

"Thanks, Toph."

A few hours later, Toph was still awake, and pretty tired of talking about her family, as she had been for a while. "Can you do me a favour?"

"Depends on what it is."

Toph hesitated for a moment. "Can you tell me what the sky looks like?"

Zuko smiled. What a strange request. "I'll try," he said, and set about talking about sun sets and sunrises, clouds and mist and fog, and before long he looked down to find the young girl asleep, leaning against him contentedly, a small smile playing across her face.

Katara awoke the next morning with her mouth sticking to the roof of her tongue. Her eyes still closed against the morning sunlight, she reached for her water skin. It was empty.

With a groan, she rolled over and opened her eyes, wincing at the bright sunlight that seemed to be everywhere at once. Waterbenders rose with the moon, not the sun.

She looked over to where she'd last seen Zuko, but he wasn't there. Sitting up, she noticed that Toph's little earth tent wasn't there either.

"Toph?" she called. No answer. "Zuko?"

"Katara," a hushed voice said from behind her. She swivelled around in her sleeping bag to see Zuko partially turned towards her, his arm around Toph's shoulders.

"What are you doing over-" she stopped talking as soon as she saw Zuko place his finger on his lips.

"She's sleeping."

Katara fought her way out of her sleeping bag and over to Zuko's side.

"Why is she all the way over here? What did you do?"

"Why did I have to do something wrong? I keep trying to tell you, I'm not the bad guy," he said in hushed tones. "She wasn't sleeping and when she tried to get over here she fell down, so I just helped her over. She asked me to sit with her, so I did, and then she fell asleep, so I stayed. It's not like I'm going to sleep very well down here anyway. Not with Azula on the warpath."

Katara sighed. "I'm sorry, then. I guess. Is she still in pain?"

Zuko shook his head. "Not with her feet in the water." He paused for a moment, shifting his loose, protective grip on Toph's shoulders. "I feel so bad about what I did to her."

"Well you should do. But just so you know, she doesn't really blame you," Katara said quietly. "I do, because you did the bending, but she doesn't."

Zuko shrugged. "She's a good kid. She sees you guys as more of a family than her own. Did you know that? She sees you and Sokka as sort of replacement parents. She said Aang was like her goofy little brother, the one that she always wanted."

Beside him, Toph stirred ever so slightly, and Zuko smiled a little.

Katara got up and filled her waterskin from the fountain, before she left to get the day started.

"Do you know where you fit into all this, Zuko?" Toph asked him quietly. He didn't react, but she knew he'd heard her. "If Katara and Sokka are like a mum and dad, and Aang's the little brother I always wanted, do you know where you fit in? You're like the big brother I always needed."

"And you're the little sister I wanted nothing more than to swap mine for."

"Thanks for sticking with me last night Zuko," she said, wrapping her other arm around his torso.

"No problem."

They sat for a moment, taking in the rising warmth of the day, until Toph kicked some water at Zuko, who had to retaliate. Before they knew it, the whole of their little makeshift family was in the fountain, dousing one another with water, laughing more than they had in a long time.

So yeah. Hi. Hope you liked my little 'familyfic'.

Review if you liked it. Probably even if you didn't like it. Thanks.


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